short term work assignment in London - advise?

[DIANE3698]

My husband is being asked to do a short term assignment in London. Probably 3-6 months max. They would like him there in just 2 weeks. What advise would you give us in negotiating a fair arrangement?
We will keep our current home - just shut down all the utilities, water, cable, etc.
We will need to rent a 1BR 1BA furnished place - company to pick up tab on that. Anything to watch out for in picking a place or in setting a budget for it? I suppose we will stay in a hotel for a week or so before picking a place. Do leases start at the first of the month?
Question - is it better to be near the office (central London - near Charing Cross) or out near the airport? He will likely travel all around Europe during this time - and occasionally back to US and Asia. Right now we live just 10 minute drive from work and 20 minutes to airport. Taking the tube will probably be the way we travel in London.
How would you recommend setting up the expenses? Should we just receive a per diem allowance - what is reasonable?
Should we get a Eurail pass or something like that before we leave? Any other tips you can give would be great! Thanks, Diane

[jlms]

If I was in your situation I would look in the Paddington area. The reason for this is that from Paddington station you can reach Heathrow Airport very quickly (15 minutes by very expensive train, but if the company pays the bill it is a non issue), and you have direct access to Charing Cross using the Bakerloo tube line.

Also you can reach Victoria station quickly, from there you can reach Gatwick airport.

And St Pancras now that I think of it, which means you can reach Paris and Brussels (most important towns in Holland and Belgium really) by train.

It is unlikely you will find a place to live close to Charing Cross, and anyway it is too hectic and rowdy for anybody to want to live there :-) I also wonder how much housing is left in the area, it seems most of it is commercial space.

The most important thing you have to keep in mind is that the part of London North of the Thames is much better covered by both tube and buses and is also traditionally more better off. South of the river it is more of a struggle to deal with public transport due to the lack of tube.

Same thing applies for the East-West divide of town, the East being less affluent and less well served by the tube.

If the company is paying the rent, would you not be constrained by that? I would think that they would set you a budget and you will go out there and find something. I would say that £2000/month should allow you to find something (as a matter of fact less, £1600 would get you a 2Bed/2Bath in North Greenwich for example, which is OKish for access to Charing Cross, and great for City Airport, but a bit inconvenient Heathrow and Gatwick).

Why would you like the EUrail pass? It is difficult to say if it would be of much use, unless you intend to do some serious tourism by rail. My gut feeling is that you would be perfectly fine just buying rail tickets as you need them, but you may want to explain more about this.

I hope this helps a bit.

[uluvbs]

did he already have a work permit or did they have to get one for him? for some reason i thought they took months to get. . . .